Lost- you and Sayid
by alyshamae49
Summary: same as the tv show, except Shannon is replaced by you.
1. I Do What I Want

15 days you all had been on the Island. It was hot, everyday, and most days were spent sitting by the water with your feet stuck inside. It was endless, the ocean that surrounded you, and your eyebrows were constantly creased in worry that you would never be able to leave. You had never heard of this place between Australia and Figi, and it was almost certain that no one would be able to find you. At least in your mind, anyway.

"Ana?" said a soft, deep voice behind you. You turned and saw Sayid standing a few feet away, looking concerned. You sighed and turned back towards the waves that were now washing halfway up your legs, but you didn't care. It felt better than the hot sun beating down on them all day. Sayid walked up beside you and crouched down to your level. He stared at you intently for a moment before speaking. "What's troubling you?" he asked. You didn't say anything, you simply dropped your gaze from the water to your damp jeans before looking back up and shaking your head.

"Nothing," you said. He didn't seem convinced. He sat down beside you and put an arm over your shoulders. You started to rest your head against his shoulder but nothing really comforted you these days, so you just continued to stare ahead.

"Everything is going to be all right," he said. "They're looking for us." You looked up at him for the first time in days, and noticed he had developed frown lines. It made your heart hurt to see him so sad. Your eyes filled with tears and you looked away.

"It wouldn't take 2 weeks," you said, "nobody is coming." Sayid held you closer.

"Positive thoughts," he reminded you. "Now come on, you must eat something. You've been sitting here for hours." He pulled his arm away and stood up, lowering his hand for you to grab. You looked at it and then shook your head again.

"I'm not hungry." Sayid stooped down and grabbed both your hands, pulling you to your feet unwillingly. He smiled down at you and you returned his gaze.

"Your stomach is telling a different story," he said, and suddenly you were aware of the grumbling noise it was making. It was loud, and it was then that you realized how long it had actually been since you ate that single banana this morning. You smiled slightly.

"Fine, I am." He wrapped an arm around your waist and the two of you walked back towards camp, excess water dripping off your shorts. Jack greeted you at the tent where they were roasting boar nearby over a amateur fire. He was chewing on some meat, and handed you a chunk on a leaf. He smiled.

"It's nice to see you back over here with us," he said. You accepted the meat and took a bite.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." You started to walk towards the fire, not realizing that Sayid wasn't walking with you until you sat down beside Hurley on the log and he didn't sit down beside you. You turned around and saw him turned away from you, talking quietly to Jack. Jack's eyes met yours and he started to say something as Sayid turned to look at you. You turned away, your cheeks slightly pink and took another bite of boar.  
"Hey dude," Hurley said and you looked at him. You swallowed.

"Hey," you said, immediately taking another bite. He watched you gulp it down in amazement.

"Do you want me to get you another leg?" he asked. You shook your head, your cheeks full of meat. It took you a few minutes to chew it small enough to swallow, but eventually it went down. You looked up at him.

"I'm full now." You ate the last piece on your leaf and set it down by your feet, wiping your hands on your jeans. They were still wet from sitting beside the water, and the grease from the boar smeared down them. You looked around for some sort of makeshift napkin but there was none. Hurley was still looking at you.

"Here," he said, reaching behind him and pulling a shirt from the bag he was always carrying with him. You smiled and took it as Sayid appeared beside you.

"Thanks," you said, wringing your hands through it. Sayid sat beside you after getting himself some boar, and you put the shirt on the log. He didn't speak as he ate, as he rarely does. The silence used to be awkward, but you grew accustomed to it. When he was finished, he used Hurley's shirt to wipe his hands and then stood up.

"How are you planning on spending your evening?" he asked. You thought about it. It would be nice to go for a walk along the shore, but you know Sayid would never allow it. He hated when you were even an inch out of his sight. He didn't trust the Island, or anyone on it. Not even some of the survivors.

"I don't know, I guess I'll go sit by the water again later." He frowned.

"Night is almost here, it's going to get cold. You'll freeze down there." You shrugged.

"What else is there to do on a deserted Island?" He didn't answer you, he just sighed.

"I have to go assist Jack with a few things in the Jungle. Promise you won't stay down there too long?" he asked. You stood up and stared up at him, and he leaned down to kiss you. You gripped the side of his shirt gently and kissed him back. When he pulled away, you smiled.

"Promise." He returned the smile.

"Good. I'll see you later tonight." He kissed you again and turned, swinging a bag over his shoulder and disappearing with Jack into the trees. Hurley was watching you as you watched him leave. You turned to him.

"You're not gonna listen to him, are you?" he asked.

"No," you said, taking off towards the water and diving in. When you popped up through a wave, you noticed Hurley standing up and staring at you. You turned away and started swimming farther out. When you were far enough that Hurley, as big as he was, was only a dot, you laid on your back and floated amongst the waves. You shut your eyes against the sun and sighed, letting your body relax. You didn't realize how tired you were until now. And it didn't take long for you to fall asleep.


	2. Don't Tell Sayid

When you woke up, you were lying on the shore with ice cold waves washing over your body. A slight breeze blew past and you shivered violently. There was a large figure beside you that you hadn't noticed at first because it was night time. You looked over to see Hurley staring down at you concernedly.

"You okay, dude?" he asked and you could hear his teeth chattering. You could also hear excess water dripping from his shorts onto the sodden sand. You looked towards the camp and it was vacant, only a dim fire lit beside Jack's tent. He kept the coals hot enough to see at night so that if someone got sick, they could find his tent quickly. He was a doctor before you all crashed on the Island.

"What happened?" you asked, turning your head back towards Hurley and sitting up. A wave passed over your legs and you breathed in sharply against the bitter chill of it.

"Well, Sayid and Jack returned from the jungle and asked where you were. I told them you had gone into the woods to...do your business. Then I ran over here and saw you with your face down in the water." Your heart skipped a beat. A wave must have flipped you over while you were in a dead sleep. Hurley continued, "so I jumped in and pulled you to shore." You swallowed. Sayid would never forgive you for being so careless. He'd made it perfectly clear that you were all he had left in this world, and there you were not caring. Another cold wave passed over your legs and brought you back to earth.

"Thank you," you whispered as he reached down to grab your hand and pull you up.

"No problem, dude." He led you over to the tents and you stopped short of the one you shared with Sayid. You could see a dim light coming from the entrance, and you knew he was awake. You grabbed Hurley's shirt and he turned towards you.

"You're not gonna tell Sayid, are you?" you asked.

"Your secret's safe with me." He patted your shoulder. "Good night." He walked off to his tent and disappeared inside. You stepped around Jack's fire and walked the few feet left to your tent and moved the flap aside. Sayid was sitting on the blanket with a flashlight in one hand, and a book in the other. He looked up at you and set down the book.

"Ana," he said, standing up. You smiled and walked in.

"Hi," you said as he wrapped his arms around you. He quickly drew away and held on tightly to your arms.

"You're wet," he said, "what happened?"

"I went for a swim after you left," you lied, silently thanking God for the darkness because your face turned red when you lied. "I couldn't find my dry clothes."

"They're over here," he said, moving to the other side of the tent and opening a suitcase. "Come here." You walked over to him as he handed you a pair of dry pants and a shirt. "Hurry and change. You're freezing." You slipped out of your wet clothes and put on the dry ones. Relief flooded over you in waves now that you were no longer cold and uncomfortable. He smiled down at you. "You didn't go far, I trust?" You shook your head.

"No. I stayed where I could see Hurley." Sayid chuckled.

"So you did go far?" You laughed, not realizing what you had said.

"That's not nice," you said, punching him in the arm.

"Neither is this." Sayid pushed you back on the blanket and laid his body over yours, trapping you. He reached under your shirt and began massaging your ribs, and slipped his other hand under your arm and began wiggling his fingers around. You let you a scream and he said, "shhh" with a smile.

"Sayid, stop!" you hissed, trying to suppress a laugh. He didn't, he just kept tickling you. You moved around underneath him, trying to get away but it was no use. You just had to take it. You started giggling and then burst out laughing when he moved both hands under your arms. "Please stop!" you gasped between breaths and finally he pulled away.

"You're so ticklish. It's cute." He leaned his head down and kissed you. You kissed back with a smile.

"I'll bet you are too."

"You'll never find out." He rolled off of you and you immediately flipped over, shooting a hand towards his side. He grabbed your wrist almost instantly, and your other wrist just as fast when you went in with the other hand. You tried to yank them free but couldn't.

"Sayid," you complained, trying to pull away.

"Are you going to behave?" he asked with a smile. You shook your head. "Then I can't let you go." You sighed.

"Fine, fine." He chuckled again and let go of your wrists, quickly wrapping his arms you and pulling against him. You rested your head on his chest and looked up at him. He kissed you. "Where did you and Jack go?" you asked.

"That's hardly a story for right now."

"I had to tell you why I was wet!" you protested, "you should have to tell me where you went." He looked in your eyes.

"I will tomorrow. For now, get some sleep." You didn't argue with him, you just laid your head on his chest, closed your eyes, and fell asleep. But this time, it was in the comfort of Sayid's arms, not the arms of the waves.


	3. Betrayed

You woke up the next morning alone in the tent. You sat up immediately and blood rushed angrily to your head. You swayed slightly and threw a hand into the dirt to steady yourself, and put your other hand over your forehead. The skin underneath burnt and you knew you were getting sick. You sighed, kicking the blankets off your legs and getting up.

"Sayid," you moaned, walking out of the tent and shutting your eyes against the bright sun. You felt dizzy as you stumbled through the sand, trying to find him. "Sayid?" you called, opening an eye and looking around. You stopped walking and observed the camp. It seemed like everyone had disappeared over night. Then, suddenly, Hurley appeared from around a tent a few feet away and you sighed with relief. He smiled.

"Hey dude," he said. "Everyone's over there eating some fish that Jin caught."

"I don't eat seafood," you said and coughed. Your throat felt dry and it was hard for you to speak.

"Are you okay?" Hurley asked. You nodded and cleared your throat.

"Yeah, I just don't feel good. Is Sayid over there?" You shut your eyes, the sun was so bright that it was giving you a headache. Black spots were forming behind your eyes and it was making your brain feel fuzzy.

"Yeah dude, want me to go get him?" Suddenly, you were too dizzy to stand.

"Yes," you said and collapsed to your knees.

"Ana!" Hurley yelled and ran forward, catching you before your head smacked the ground. "Sayid!" he shouted and you heard voices erupt behind the tent a few feet away. You didn't see him run to you, but you felt Sayid's strong arms fold underneath your body and lift you up against his.

"Ana," he said loudly. "Ana, are you all right?"

"What happened to her?" you heard someone say in the background, and you assumed it was Jack. He was the doctor, it was his duty to ask.

"I don't know, she just collapsed," Hurley said. Sayid began walking with you back to the tent you both shared and everything went black before he got the chance to lay you down.

When you woke up, Sayid was sitting beside you and ringing out some sort of cloth in a bucket of cold water. You shivered when he placed it on your forehead.

"You have a fever," he said, "I've been trying to bring it down for hours."

"Hours?" you croaked, and grabbed your throat. He grabbed a bottle of water and helped you sit up. He handed it to you and you gulped down the water until there was none left. You dropped it by your side and laid back down, shutting your eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. You opened your eyes and stared at him.

"What did you mean hours?" you said, instead of answering his question. He took the cloth from your head and replaced it with his hand.

"You've been unconscious for hours," he said. "But your fever is going down. I think that was enough." He placed the rag in the water and turned to you, pushing the hair from your eyes. You smiled and then looked over towards the entrance of the tent as light spilled in. Jack was standing there holding a thermometer.

"Can I come in?" he asked. Sayid moved aside.

"Of course, Jack." Jack walked in and crouched beside you, feeling your head. He took the cap off the thermometer.

"How are you feeling?" he asked before placing it under your tongue. You nodded, closing your mouth and he nodded back. "Good." The thermometer beeped after a minute and he pulled it out, looking at it. "Pretty much back to normal," he said.

"That's good news," Sayid said smiling. Jack placed the cap back on and shoved it in his pocket.

"Do you want to tell Sayid how you got the flu, Ana?" Jack said and he had a stern look on his face. Your stomach churned unpleasantly and your heart skipped a beat. You just stared at him and he said, "Hurley told me."

Hurley.

Your blood boiled for a second angrily, and then it went away. Hurley must have told him so Jack would know how to diagnose you. If you hadn't gotten sick, he would have kept your secret. You hoped anyway.

"I'm sorry," you said, looking at Sayid. You sighed. "I did go too far. And...I fell asleep when I was laying on my back. A wave must have turned me over and Hurley found me by the shore knocked out." Sayid had a look between shock and concern on his face. "It's really not a big deal, I'm alright aren't I?"

"Yes," he said quietly. "I suppose you are."

"But this island is full of enough secrets," Jack said, "there's no reason to have any more. Especially if they're not a big deal."

"Sorry," you said and he stood up.

"We're just looking out for you. Take it easy, okay? I'll be back to check on you in an hour." He left the tent and Sayid looked down at you. You sat up and took his hand.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to get mad at me."

"I wouldn't have been mad," he said, "I can't control what you do. I'm just glad you're all right." He wrapped his arms around you and rested your head against his chest. You held on tight to his waist.

"I'm fine." He kissed the top of your head. "Are you hungry?" It was then you noticed the rumbling in your stomach. You nodded.

"Yeah, is there anything other than fish?" Sayid smiled.

"Yes, I'll get you some boar that Sawyer caught." You returned his smile and he walked out of the tent, closing the flaps behind him. As soon as he turned away, a gunshot rang through the air. Your scream mingled with the screams of Claire and Kate, who you had seen standing just a few feet away, and you scrambled towards the back of the tent just as Sayid's body flew back against it and tore the front half down.


	4. Charlie, Charlie, Charlie

Panic. That was the only feeling that your body was able to process as you stared at Sayid's body tangled up in the tarp that made up your makeshift tent. It was hard to hear with your heart beating so loud and the blood rushing in your ears, but you were pretty sure the screaming had stopped and that Jack was yelling for people to calm down. But you weren't going to be calm. Sayid had just been shot.

You scrambled to your feet, shoving aside the blankets and the tarp that surrounded you, and making your way to Sayid. He lay unconscious, half in the sand and half on the tarp. You dropped to your knees beside him.

"Sayid," you cried out, shoving aside a few sticks that had landed on top of him. "Sayid!" You grabbed his shoulders and shook him as hard as you could. Tears spilled from your eyes as you noticed the red stain spreading across his shirt. With trembling fingers, you gripped the bottom of it and pulled up slowly to reveal a gash the length of your hand. It was deep and pouring blood. You gasped and fell backwards into the sand just as Jack was running over.

"Is he unconscious?" he asked but you weren't able to speak. Jack didn't waste time trying to get you to answer, he grabbed Sayid's shoulder and shook him. "Sayid?!" He yelled as Charlie burst out of the woods with a shotgun in his hand and a look of horror across his face.

"I'm sorry!" he was saying, "I didn't know the deer was so close to camp!"

"That's why you don't go alone, you go with someone who knows what the hell they're doing!" Sawyer snapped, ripping the gun from his hands. "Damn coke-head." He stomped off and Charlie stood there alone, staring at Sayid in fear. He didn't care come any closer. Jack turned to him.

"Charlie, go in my tent and get me the first aid kit, and the needle and thread!" he said, holding his hand down on Sayid's side firmly. "Hurry up!"

You hadn't realized it, but from the moment you had seen the blood on Sayid's shirt, you had been holding your breath. Within seconds of your head feeling light, you fell to the side and threw your hand out into the sand to keep yourself from smacking your head again. Jack looked up at you from his watch and placed two fingers to Sayid's neck, checking his pulse. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," you lied as Charlie came running back with the supplies. Running too fast, he tripped over himself along the way and flew forward, and so did the supplies. For some reason, this brought you back to Earth and you remembered what was going on. You jumped straight to your feet and darted towards the kit, string and needle. You fumbled through the sand for a minute to find the needle, but eventually you did and you sprinted back towards Jack. "Is he gonna be okay?" you asked, dropping beside him and handing him the supplies with shaking hands.

"He's losing a lot of blood," Jack answered, "I need to get this sewed up fast." Charlie hurried over.

"Jack, Ana, again, I am SO sorry," he said but you didn't answer.

"Charlie, this isn't a time for apologies. When Sayid wakes up, you can apologize to him. Let's just be thankful the bullet didn't embed itself. If you want to help, come hold this cloth for me while I stitch him up." He threaded the needle as he said this and then looked at you. "You might want to turn away," he said as Charlie rushed to his side and held the cloth in place. You didn't argue, you turned your head to the side and blinked back your remaining tears. Kate walked over quickly and crouched beside you.

"Are you all right?" she asked, concern in her eyes. You didn't say anything, you just nodded. Kate looked over at Jack sewing up Sayid's side and she cringed, turning back to you. "He's gonna be fine. Jack knows what he's doing." She placed her hand over yours and held on tightly. You looked up at her and she had a weak smile on her face. You returned it with a weak one of your own, but it faded as fast as it had appeared. Sayid moaned beside you. Your head snapped towards him and the bloody mess Charlie was trying to help control.

"Sayid?" you said, crawling over and putting a hand on his face. Your eyes darted over to Jack forcing the needle through the thick of Sayid's skin and then again to stitch it together. He moaned again and he furrowed his brow. Tears gathered in your eyes again. "You're hurting him!" you said, looking at Jack.

"I need to finish this or he'll be hurting worse," Jack said, putting the needle back through the way it came and pulling the thread tight. Charlie pressed the cloth against his wound as blood spurted from it and you quickly averted your gaze back to Kate. She put a hand on your arm comfortingly as a tear slid down your cheek. "I'm almost done." A few minutes later, Sun and Jin walked over.

"Is he going to be all right?" she asked, and Jin said nothing. He hardly spoke any English, but he was learning. Kate stood up and moved them both a little away to give you space, and then began to speak to them. You weren't sure what she was saying, but you didn't care. You turned back to Sayid and Jack was just about through patching him up. Relief flooded through you and was immediately replaced by a rush of hot blood through your body as Sayid let out a grunt and then a yell, sitting up slightly, then falling back to the ground limply with his head turned away from you. His eyes didn't open at all during this episode. You stared at Jack in horror.

"He's all right," he said, feeling his pulse. "Just unconscious. Charlie grabbed me a rusty needle, it probably just hurt." You glared at Charlie.

"I'm sorry!" he said, soaking up some blood as Jack continued. After a couple minutes of you sitting beside Sayid and resting his forehead against your knee, Jack tied the loose ends of his string, cut it and set down the needle. He took the cloth from Charlie, wiped away the excess blood and taped a few gauze pads in its place. You were happy not to be able to see the gash anymore. Jack stood up.

"We shouldn't move him yet, since the stitches are still fresh." You nodded and stood up, walking to him and wrapping your arms around his waist. He seemed taken aback at first as you rested your head on his chest, and then he wrapped his arms around you and hugged you tightly.

"Thank you," you whispered. He pulled away and smiled. Then he lifted his hand and placed it on your forehead.

"You're burning up again," he said, "come on to my tent, you can rest in there. We'll keep an eye on him for you and let you know when he wakes up." You were reluctant, but also slightly dizzy. You nodded and let him lead you inside, and he got you some water as you laid down on his blankets. Your heart and head were pounding as he helped you sit back up to take a few sips, and then you laid back down again.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll come check on you in an hour or so, after I check on Sayid. One of us will come and get you when he wakes up." You nodded and he stood up, leaving the tent. And so began what you hated most about life: the waiting game.


	5. How it all Began

Time had gone slow for you before, but this was something new. As you lay in Jack's tent, peering out between the crack in the tarp, it seemed like the world was moving slowly too. The waves were taking an extra few seconds to crash onto the shore, the people seemed like they were dragging their feet wherever they went. It was like they were zombies. But that couldn't be right, because that would be a "way out" of this place. And the Island made sure that you didn't go anywhere once you got here, physically or mentally.

You caught Kate's eye as she was walking by with firewood and you immediately looked away. You were afraid that if you held her gaze that she would invite herself into Jack's tent to be with you. And you didn't want company right now. Not unless it was Sayid. You stared at the ceiling and watched it crease as the wind blew over the top of the tarp. It was windy a lot on the Island, but never any cooler during the day. Sometimes at night the temperature would drop, but it was rare. And confusing to you, considering you were camped out by the water.

Your thoughts faded back to Sayid. Then Charlie. You couldn't understand how someone could be so careless around a group of people. And for what? A deer. You all had once gone 3 days without eating, one more wouldn't have killed any of you. But that gun shot could have. And it almost did. Tears formed in your eyes as you remembered Jack stitching up Sayid's wound, and the pained look on his face each time the needle was forced through his skin. You shivered at the thought and switched to thinking about something happier. The first day you and Sayid met. Despite all the tears shed and chaos of having crashed on a deserted Island, it was still a good day.

You had gone into the woods to gather some berries, just to do something useful. You were the youngest in the group next to Walt, and it made you feel in the way. Too young to join in the "adult" conversations, and too old to be running around like Walt was with his dog. So you ventured out into the jungle to scavenge instead.

And it was while you were out scavenging that you violently twisted your ankle in the stream.

You were hopping along the jungle floor on one foot, grabbing branch after branch and twig after twig, helping yourself along back towards camp. Your ankle was swollen, throbbing and you were doing everything you could to stay on your feet and keep going. But eventually the pain was overbearing and you misjudged the strength of a twig that broke in your grasp and sent you crashing into the dirt. You gasped in pain and whimpered, grabbing your ankle as tears sprang to your eyes. You heard the rustle of leaves to your right and your head immediately snapped in that direction as your hand went for the knife in your pocket.

"Sawyer?" you said, remembering how he had gone out into the jungle to hunt just a few minutes before you did. The rustling of the leaves stopped and a few seconds of silence passed.

"Ana?" came a deep, gentle voice from behind the trees. Your heart skipped a beat as the rustling started up again and you heard footsteps coming towards you. You stared into the brush until Sayid emerged, his skin glistening with sweat and his breathing heavy. You breathed a sigh of relief and reached for a branch above you so that you could stand and Sayid hurried to you. He crouched down to your level and wrapped his hand around your arm, sending the first of many electric shocks up it. When you were sitting again, he let go and observed your ankle. "What has happened?" he asked.

"I tripped...in the stream," you said quietly, embarrassed by your situation. He gently probed the black and blue baseball-sized mess that was your ankle and you gasped in pain again, looking up at him in horror. His soft eyes rested on yours as he moved his hand.

"I was feeling for broken bones," he explained, and then he stood up. "Come on, it's going to be dark soon. I should get you back to camp." He offered a hand down to you and you grabbed it, holding on tightly as he pulled you to your feet and you did your best not to put any weight on your bad one.

"Thank you," you started to say, but before the words could leave your mouth, one of his arms was under your legs and the other was wrapped around your back and he was lifting you into them. "I can walk," you blurted out without thinking even though you knew well enough that you couldn't.

"You wouldn't get 5 feet," he said and began walking back towards camp. You smiled slightly and became aware of yourself holding onto the back of his t-shirt. It was damp and warm against your skin but you didn't mind. Because there he was, on day 1, taking care of you from the start.

15 minutes of silence passed before you spoke.

"How did you know I was out here?" you asked.

"Hurley told me. He saw you leave with Sawyer, and when he came back without you, he got worried. I volunteered to come out into the jungle and find you."

"I wasn't with Saywer," you said, "I came out here alone."

"Something I would prefer you didn't do," he said, and you could tell by the tone in his voice that he didn't really want to talk. And so began his weird issue with not wanting to talk while he did certain things.

Another 15 minutes passed.

"Well, we are here," he said. "Would you prefer I bring you back to your tent or do you want to come sit by the fire with everyone?" You looked over at the group, sitting around and feasting on the boar that Sawyer had caught earlier that day. They would ask what happened, and you didn't really feel like explaining. And you weren't that hungry. So you shook your head and looked back at him.

"I'm kind of tired," you said, and it wasn't a lie, "I'll just go back to my tent." Sayid walked you to the back of the beach where you had a tarp thrown over some sticks that you had gouged into the ground. It wasn't much, but it kept you dry and the bugs out for the most part. Sayid walked you inside and rested you on top of the blankets you had piled on the ground. He reached into your suit case for a towel and rolled it up, then stuck it under your ankle so that it was elevated.

"How is that?" he asked and you smiled at him.

"That's good. Thank you." He returned your smile and your heart fluttered. It looked good on him and you wished he would do it more often. He stood up to go and you frowned slightly. He stared down at you.

"I trust you'll call for me when you wake up, and not try to get up on your own?" he asked. Your cheeks burned and you were thankful that it was beginning to get dark. Maybe Sayid didn't see. You nodded.

"Yeah." He smiled again.

"Good. Good night." He walked out of the tent and you sighed, laying your head back and staring at the ceiling as it creased in the wind. That was one handsome man, you thought and began to wonder if he had a wife or girlfriend back home. He had to, no one like him could be alive and single. Disappointed, you closed your eyes and saw his face in the darkness that followed. It was weird for you to be thinking of him when he probably wasn't thinking of you. So you shook your head violently and when his face was gone, you relaxed and drifted off to sleep.

As you fell asleep in your memory, you began to drift off in reality too. You were smiling, remembering the strength of his arms as he held you in them and you shut your eyes against the memory. You didn't hear Jack open the slit in your tent and say your name. It sounded like Sayid saying your name in your head. You smiled again.

"Ana," Jack said again, and you barely heard him come inside and put a hand on your forehead. You must have felt hot to him because next thing you felt was a cold cloth against your skin. "He's awake," he said but you didn't have time to register that before you fell asleep.


	6. Lemons

When you woke up, it was morning. You could tell by the sliver of light that shone through the crack in the tarp and streaked across your legs. You sat up, feeling better than you had the night before and a damp cloth fell from your forehead and into your lap. You looked down at it and thought of Jack, particularly of what he had been saying before you fell asleep. Butterflies hatched in your stomach and you pushed yourself to your feet, walked to the entrance of Jack's tent and stepped outside. It was brighter than you had expected it to be and you had to shield your eyes from the light. When your eyes grew accustomed, you looked down the length of the beach and noticed everyone was gathered on the opposite side. No wonder it had been so unusually quiet.

You began walking towards the small fire that was lit near the water and scanned the crowd for Sayid. You couldn't see him so you got on your toes and tried to look over everyone's heads but still he wasn't visible. You sighed and dropped your heels back down into the sand, continuing to walk forward. You changed your direction towards the stack of cereal and canned foods that the group had gathered underneath a large tree to keep it shielded from the sun. As you approached it, you noticed Jack was walking towards it as well. You looked up at him and smiled halfheartedly before stopping at the tree.

"Good morning," he said smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better," you said as he put a hand to your forehead. He smiled again and nodded.

"Your fever is gone," he said, pulling his hand away.

"Thank you for the cloth," you said, unaware that you had carried it all the way over there. You handed it to him and he took it.

"Sayid is actually the one you should be thanking," he said. "He stayed up most of the night to make sure you were okay." Your stomach squirmed unpleasantly.

"Did anyone make sure he was okay?" you asked, a hint of aggravation in your voice.

"I did," Jack said and appreciation swelled inside you, "and he told me that he was fine. I trust Sayid. When he says he's fine, he's fine." He paused, sensing what question you were going to ask next. "He's in your tent changing his gauze." You cast him a questioning look.

"Our tent?" you asked, remembering how Sayid had torn it down when he was thrown back against it by Charlie's bullet. Jack gestured towards the reconstructed tent in the corner of the beach, covered by branches as it had been before.

"We rebuilt it after you fell asleep." You smiled.

"Thank you," you said.

"You're welcome." He grabbed a box of cereal and a paper bowl from the pile. He poured some into it but not enough for a decent breakfast. You raised an eyebrow. "Sun found some tagged birds on the other side of the island," he explained, "we're hoping we can catch them and get a note tied to its leg and get them to fly back to wherever they came from."

"Are you serious?" you said, and you couldn't help but grin. "Do you think that's really gonna work? It kind of sounds like a message in a bottle. They usually just end up washing back up on shore."

"It's worth a try," Jack said shrugging, and you could tell he wasn't too sure about the plan either. He closed the box of cereal and set it back with the others. "I'll be back some time this afternoon." You nodded as he walked off, a backpack over his shoulders. You watched him go and then turned back to the pile of canned foods, scanning the selection for some kind of fruit. It's what you usually had back home for breakfast. But most of what was in the pile was soup, so you settled for a mango that you assumed Sawyer had brought back from the jungle earlier that morning. You walked away from the table, taking a bite and looked up as you began to chew. Sayid was a few yards away, walking out of your tent and pulling down on his shirt. He looked up and saw you, smiling immediately.

"Hello Ana," he said. You grinned and half-ran to him, dropping your mango in the sand.

"Hey!" you heard Sawyer shout in the distance but you ignored him. You closed the distance between you and Sayid and wrapped your arms around his waist, resting your head against his chest. He held onto you tighly and kissed the top of your head as your eyes filled with tears. You smiled up at him and he lowered his head to kiss you. It tasted sweeter than the mango did. He pulled away.

"I didn't know you were up," he said as you repositioned yourself beside him and the two of you began to walk towards the fire. You both held onto each other's waist as you went.

"I just got up," you said as Saywer was stomping towards the two of you, anger in his eyes. You both stopped as he approached and he stopped a few feet away.

"Hey, I spent 3 hours in that damn jungle this morning to find those mangos and you just threw into the sand!" he complained. "How about you go out there and find food next time?!" he said. You moved away from Sayid and walked to the mango you dropped, picking it up. You observed it as the two men stared at you and you blew on it, getting rid of the loose sand on the surface and then brushing off the rest. You took a bite and looked at Sawyer.

"It's just sand," you said. He didn't say anything as you walked back over to Sayid and wrapped your arm around his waist. "I'm sorry I dropped it." Saywer just stared at you and then looked at Sayid.

"Keep her under control," he said and walked off and your mouth fell open slightly. You looked up at Sayid with a look of disbelief on your face. He looked down at you.

"Keep you under control?" he said, "impossible." You pressed your lips together and smiled slightly as the two of you walked down towards the water. There was a slight breeze down by the shore but it was warm. You sighed as you stared out at the seemingly endless blue and frowned.

"I wish I could just swim until I find land." Sayid looked down at you.

"That would be a far swim," he said. You looked up at him and squinted against the sun. You couldn't help but smile as he stared at you, it was some sort of affect he had on you. His dark skin and dark hair that fell over his face. His goatee. You were always a sucker for a man with a nice goatee. He was easy on the eyes, too. But you had to look away after a few moments or you would be in danger of drowning in those soft, brown eyes of his. They were just beautiful and you weren't sure how you got so lucky.

"I'd drown before I got there," you said.

"And we don't want that, do we?" Sayid said and had a silly grin on his face. You looked back up at him and laughed.

"No, we don't." You took a bite of your mango and offered some to him. He shook his head.

"No thank you. I had fish this morning." You chewed and swallowed, turning away and chucking the mango far into the ocean. You expected to hear Sawyer yell at you again, but no one said anything. "Was there something wrong with it?" he asked.

"It didn't taste good with sand," you said. He laughed, taking your hand in his. There was a couple minutes of silence between the two of you and then you said quietly, "I thought you were going to die." Sayid's whole demeanor changed as you said this. His shoulders slouched and his face was sad as he looked down at you.

"I would never do that to you," he said and tears rushed into your eyes. He always knew the perfect thing to say in moments like these. He put his hands to your face and leaned down, kissing you gently on the lips. You kissed back with slightly more passion than usual and rested your hands on his chest, loosely gripping his shirt in your fists. You didn't want the moment to end, you could have stayed like this forever. There was something about being in his arms that just felt so right. You'd never felt this way with anyone, and he almost made crashing on a deserted island worth it. It seemed entirely too soon that he pulled away.

"I love you," you whispered and he was silent for a moment. Your cheeks began to burn red as he just stared down at you and you avoided his gaze, afraid that you had gone too far. "I'm s-" you started to say but suddenly his arms were around your lower back and he was lifting you up against his body. You looked back at him and wrapped your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck as he leaned in to kiss you again, this time with equal passion as you. As you kissed, a tear slipped between your lips and you were suddenly aware that you were crying. He pulled away and stared at you with an expression you'd never seen before.

"I love you too," he said and your heart about burst out of your chest. You pressed your lips to his hungrily as he began wading into the water with you still in his arms. The love that was emanating from him was so powerful and warm that you barely even noticed when the ocean water began to envelope you in its waves. You just continued to kiss him until the water was just at your waist, then you pulled away.

"I need you," you said. He slowly let you drop from his arms as you looked towards shore to see if anyone was staring. But before you could scan the shore and see what everyone was doing, Sayid had your face in his hands again and was kissing you madly. You could feel his pants at your feet, moving back and forth with the current and you knew that he wanted you too. You tore at his shirt and he raised his arms as you lifted it off with ease. He did the same with your shirt and you moved further into the water until it was at your chest.

"Come here," he said and pulled you to him. You kissed his chest as he reached behind you and unhooked your bra. He let it go and it floated off towards shore but you didn't care. You wanted him and wanted him now. When all clothes were off, the two of you were on each other and within seconds he was inside you. You'd never done it in the water before, but he made you feel like it was the 100th time you'd done it. Everything was always so natural with him.

The farther you two drifted off into the ocean, the harder it got to continue. Sayid finished just as the bottom was barely reachable by your toes. He pulled away as the two of you breathed deeply and you moved to him, holding on tightly since he could still reach the bottom. You leaned your head against his chest and could feel his heart beating rapidly against your ear. You looked up at him, your chest rising and falling heavily, and he leaned down to kiss you. When he was done, you both embraced again and you looked towards shore. Your heart, which had previously been pounding in your chest, seemed to stop dead when you noticed your clothes floating near the sand.

"Sh*t," you said quietly.

"What's wrong?" Sayid asked and looked towards the sand as well. He didn't need to say any more. A couple people were looking out into the water at you, and you could see the smiles on their faces even being so far out into the water. Your cheeks flushed and you sank down into the water slightly, hiding the top of your breasts. You noticed Hurley move towards the water and go in up to his ankles. He reached down into the water and scooped up your bra with his pointed finger, holding it up so you could see. He looked amused.

"Need some help?"


	7. Losing Control

You were so embarrassed. It had been an awkward 30 minutes since Hurley had stood ankle deep in the water, picking up your clothes and tossing them to you as the waves washed them closer to shore. Your cheeks burned red the entire time and you couldn't help but drift behind Sayid, resting your cheek against the middle of his back and staring across the water to the opposite end of the beach. You couldn't believe the situation you had put yourself in, and you were thankful when you heard your final piece of clothing plop into the water before Sayid.

"Thank you, Hurley," he said calmly and you looked around him to see if people were still staring. You saw Hurley walking out of the water and towards the tents, gesturing for people to follow him so that you could get dressed in private. Relief flooded through you as they turned to follow him and you reached around Sayid, grabbing your underwear from his hands.

"I'm so embarrassed," you said, pushing them down into the water and drifting slightly on your back so you could pull them up your legs and over your waist. Sayid was pulling on his pants as you said this.

"Well I enjoyed myself," he said and you looked up at him as you were strapping your bra on and picking up your shirt from the water.

"Me too," you said and couldn't help but smile slightly. You put on the rest of your clothes and the two of you swam forward a few feet before standing back up and walking towards the sand. He put his arm around your waist to keep you steady and you leaned against him. You were once again thankful for Hurley ushering everyone away so that you and Sayid could walk to your tent without everyone making a big deal. it was awkward enough that a few people had seen you out there.

"I think it was Sun and Jin," you said, sitting in the corner of the tent with Sayid's jacket wrapped around your shoulders. You had changed into dry clothes, but you were still feeling self conscious about what had happened even though no one could see you.

"Hm?" Sayid said, looking up at you from a piece of paper in his hands.

"The people who were staring at us next to Hurley," you said.

"What makes you think that?" he asked. You shrugged.

"I don't know. They were standing kind of close. And there's only so many couples on the island." He smiled a little.

"I'm sure they've forgotten about it by now." He looked back down at his paper. You laughed.

"Yes, I'm sure they've forgotten about us having sex in the middle of the ocean and our clothes washing up on shore. It's just a normal day to day thing." You crawled over to him and he was smiling wider now, still looking over the papers in his hand. "What are you reading?" you asked, looking down at them. It was a map and you couldn't understand it. You hadn't exactly passed geography in high school.

"I'm trying to figure out how to get to the radio tower without crossing through The Other's territory," he said and your stomach dropped. You stared up at him.

"You're not gonna go there, are you?" you asked, "Jack said it's a 3 day walk. You won't be back for 6." He set down the map and turned to you, putting a hand to your face.

"At my pace, we'll be back in 4." You tried to be comforted by his words, but you weren't.

"I'm coming with you," you said and he leaned in, kissing your forehead.

"No, you must stay here," he said and brushed your hair back from your face. It was knotty from the salt water and he began to work them out with his fingers. You felt tears begin to burn your eyes and you blinked them back angrily. You pushed his hand away.

"Why not?" you asked, glaring at him.

"I haven't been to this part of the jungle before, I don't know who or what is out there. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Who's going with you?" you asked.

"Jack, Hurley, John Locke, Kate, Saywer and Jin," he said. You scoffed.

"Who does that leave to protect me if any one comes from the jungle and attacks us?!" you said loudly, "I'd be safer with you!" He didn't say anything, he only stared at you for a few moments before lifting his hand up back to your hair. You smacked it away and jumped to your feet, whipping the tarp open and stomping off away from your tent. Sayid followed you out and called your name but you ignored him, heading towards the field where Sun kept her garden and Hurley had designed his golf course. No one had gone there lately, and you hoped that was still the case.

It was, and you were thankful. You walked past Sun's garden and to the center of the field, dropping down into the grass and crossing your legs. You sighed angrily and propped your elbows up on your legs and rested your chin in your hands, staring at the ground. You began to pick at a blade of grass when you heard footsteps coming towards you.

"Go away, Sayid," you mumbled annoyedly, not looking up. The footsteps continued and someone crouched down beside you. You looked up and was shocked to see Sun there, holding a basket under her arm. She looked concerned. You looked back down.

"Ana, what's wrong?" she asked, setting down her basket and getting on her knees.

"Nothing, I just wanted to be alone," you said lowly.

"You shouldn't be alone out here," she said and you looked up at her.

"Why are you all treating me like I'm 10?" you snapped, "I'm 20. I can take care of myself." Sun didn't seem phased by what you said.

"We know you can," she said, "but we're all here to look out for each other." You sighed and looked away, picking at the grass again. "Do you want to help me gather some vegetables?" You glanced up at her again and she was smiling sweetly. You couldn't say no to her when she was being so nice, so you stood up and brushed off your pants.

"Sure." The two of you went to her garden and you were impressed by how much she had managed to grow despite the heat. She had corn, tomatoes, green beans and peas. She was also growing some onions in the corner which made you happy, you would eat those like you ate apples. You got to your knees and began to pull tomatoes from the stem. "Where did you get all the seeds?" you asked, placing them in her basket.

"The hatch," she said simply. You should have known. Almost all of what you had at the beach was from the hatch. You began pulling peas off and tossing them in with her tomatoes and onions that she was pulling from the ground. The two of you were silent for a few minutes until the basket was full and half the veggies were picked. You looked at her and she smiled. "Thank you for your help, Ana," she said, grabbing her basket and standing up. You looked up at her.

"You're welcome."

"Are you coming back to the beach?" she asked. You frowned and looked down, shaking your head, sitting back and crossing your legs again.

"No. I'm gonna stay here for a while." Sun got back down on her knees, and put a hand on yours. You met her gaze.

"You know if you ever need to talk that I am here to do that," she said. You smiled slightly.

"Yes," you said quietly. "Thanks." She smiled and patted your hand, standing back up and moving towards the field. She turned back to you.

"And don't worry, Ana," she said and you turned to face her. "Jin and I didn't see anything." She grinned as your cheeks began to burn and she walked off with her basket back to the beach. You turned away and buried your face in your hands, embarrassed. You dragged your hands down your face miserably and stood up, brushing the dirt from your pants. You weren't ever gonna be able to look at Sun and Jin again without feeling awkward. You stepped through the grass surrounding the vegetables and tucked your hair behind your ear so that it would stop sticking to your face. You wiped the sweat from your brow and rolled up your sleeves past your shoulders.

"Ana?" came Jack's voice in the distance. You turned towards his voice. Him and Sayid must be looking for you. You sighed and stepped away from Sun's garden and started across the field, heading towards the lake a half a mile away. It was small but you'd be able to splash your face and stick your feet in for a while. At least until the sun started going down and forced you back to camp.

"Ana!" you heard Hurley call as well. You turned back towards the beach. He sounded panicked. You sighed again.

"I'm fine," you shouted.

"Hey!" an angry voice barked behind you and you jumped, turning around. Sawyer was running across the field towards you with the angriest expression you had ever seen on his face. You stayed standing where you were until he reached you, and then you took a step back as he caught his breath because he was only standing about a foot away. When he was able to talk normal, he said, "while you and Sun were out here gathering your food, an Other showed up in our territory," he said. You blinked a few times.

"Oh." You paused. "I didn't know." He huffed and pushed his hair back with his hand, annoyed.

"Well maybe next time people go screaming your name around camp, you answer one of them, huh?" he spat, grabbing your arm. "Come on." You gasped and ripped your arm out of his grip. He spun back around towards you. "Hey-"

"I'm capable of walking," you said.

"Then go," he said, gesturing for you to go forward. You glared at him and started to walk forward towards the camp, where Jack, Sayid and Hurley were still standing. You slowed your pace, trying to delay reaching them. You didn't really want to speak to Sayid at the moment. Sawyer stomped forward and grabbed your arm, yanking you forward. "I ain't dying out here today, sweetheart," he said and dragged you back towards the beach.

"Hey!" you protested, trying to drag your heels but he was too strong for you. You stopped resisting as he yanked you forward again and walked beside him angrily, looking up at the three of them still standing at the edge of the sand. They were talking to each other, and then Hurley nodded towards something and walked off. Jack and Sayid looked your way and started walking over. You avoided their stares until they got closer.

"Where is he?" Sawyer asked when you were a few yards away.

"We've got him tied up inside my tent," Jack said and Saywer threw you forward into Sayid as you gasped in surprise.

"Control her," he growled and continued to walk towards Jack's tent. Sayid had a hand on your back to steady you and you quickly pulled away from him.

"Ana," he said.

"The only reason that man was caught is because you guys were here," you snapped, "What do you think is going to happen when it's just me and everyone else you're not taking?"

"Ana," Jack said, taking a step forward. You moved away.

"I'm telling you now, it won't be him tied up in a tent somewhere." You stomped off towards your tent and threw yourself inside on top of the blankets. You buried your face in your arms, fuming and thinking about how Saywer had been treating you. How dare he. And to throw you into Sayid like that when you were angry with him. It made your blood boil to think about it and as your body began to shake, you began to scream. You buried your face farther into the blanket and continued on, hoping yours were muffled by the screams of the prisoner and people yelling for Sawyer to stop a few tents away. Your face was red hot as you bit down hard on your arm to muffle your scream even more and then you heard the door to your tarp rip open. You jumped, not expecting anyone to barge in and continued to sob into your skin and bunch the blankets in your fists.

"Ana!" Jack said beside you, trying to pull your arms away from your face as another pair of hands tried to turn you over. You assumed it was Sayid. You began thrashing to make them let go and you heard Jack say something inaudible and then Sayid moved up to your head as he left the tent.

"Ana," he said quietly as you continued to cry loudly into the blanket. You were gripping it so tightly in your fists that you knuckles were white. He put a hand over yours and you knocked it away.

"Go away!" you screamed. Sayid brushed some hair from your face and it stung as it slid through the tears on your face. You jerked your face away. You could hear the man yelling next door and it just made you cry harder.

"I'm not going to go away," he said but you barely heard him as you choked on your sobs. He had a hand on your back and you tried to slap it away but you were too tired. After a couple minutes, you heard the door to your tent open again. It was Jack again and you heard him move past Sayid, grab your shoulders and try to lift you up. You gasped and began thrashing again, but Sayid grabbed your other arm and they successfully flipped you over against your will.

"Leave me alone!" you sobbed, trying to wrestle your way out of their grip and suddenly Jack lifted a cloth and moved it towards your face. He placed it over your nose and mouth and you breathed in sharply, surprised. All of a sudden, your energy was drained and you stopped screaming. You fell limp into Sayid's arms as he kneeled beside you and you looked up at him as your eyes fluttered rapidly. There were tears in his eyes as he looked down at you and you closed yours unwillingly, passing out.


	8. You Shouldn't Be Here

When you came to, it was silent. No waves crashing on the shore, no crackling of fire, no conversation in the air. Just, nothing. You opened your eyes and a sudden burst of white light surrounded you and you shut them just as fast, turning your face away from the source. But somehow it was harder to keep them shut so you let them slowly flutter back open and peered directly into the light.

"J-Jack?" you said quietly, sitting up and looking around. It was white everywhere, and you weren't even sure if you were in your tent anymore. You placed your hand down on what should have been your blanket but you felt nothing. It was as if you were floating. But that couldn't be right because as you pulled yourself to your feet, you realized it was solid beneath you. You looked around again. "Sayid?" Nobody responded. You moved forward a few feet and through what should have been the entrance of your tent. Everything changed as soon as you did.

The light got brighter and then it faded completely. You saw the beach, but It was still completely silent. The waves were washing up on shore, but they weren't making any noise. You scanned the area for your fellow survivors but there was no one, not even Walt's dog who was always hanging around.

"Jack?!" you shouted, walking forward some more and your voice didn't even echo. Your heart was growing heavy as it pounded in your chest. "Sayid!" you yelled, tears lining the bottom of your eyes. Where had everyone gone?

Suddenly, there was a deafening boom behind you followed by a crash. You screamed as you were thrown forward twenty feet, landing hard on your back and smacking your head off the wet sand. You groaned, reaching up to rub the back of your head and you felt a bump already beginning to form. You gasped in pain and then there was another loud boom and you jumped, screaming again. You sat up slightly and noticed a giant fire before your eyes, almost too bright to look at. You squinted and watched the smoke billow into the sky as bits of flame rained down from an extremely large object that was beginning to take form through the orange and red dancing around it. It was a plane...it was your plane.

You gasped again and scrambled backwards, not believing what you saw. You were on that plane, how did you just see it crash and how did you survive it landing directly behind you? You got to your feet, almost unable to stand with your legs shaking so much, and stared in horror at the people who were beginning to bust open windows and doors, jumping out. You were frozen, watching. There were so many people.

You saw Sayid jump out of the plane, the right side of his face bleeding. Your heart skipped a beat in your chest as he looked over at you. You swallowed as he stared and the two of you kept your eyes locked for a whole 30 seconds. Then he started towards you. Your lips parted slightly and you backed up.

"Stop!" he shouted, throwing a hand out and beginning to run at you. You gasped and stopped, breathing deeply. Behind him, people were running around wildly and screaming. Some were keeling over in pain. Others were dropping dead. He slowed down and continued walking quickly towards you. You noticed his hair was shorter when he was a few yards away. He stopped in front of you and stared again for another 30 seconds. "You shouldn't be here," he finally said. You were silent for a moment.

"What?" you asked.

"You need to go," he said.

"Go...go where?" He pushed you and you almost fell back into the sand. "Sayid!" He pushed you again. "Stop!" you said, smacking him across the face. "What is going on?!"

"Lacy," he said quietly, as if you hadn't just hit him. He looked completely unphased. His face was calm and he was very still. You swallowed.

"Wha-"

"Lacy." You didn't answer him, just stared. "Lacy, wake up." You furrowed your brows in confusion. You opened your mouth to say something and suddenly he moved towards you quickly and shoved you backwards into the sand shouting, "WAKE UP!"

Your eyes flew open. It was dark. Hurley was on his knees beside you, staring down concernedly. You said nothing, just returned his gaze.

"Dude, you're waking everyone up," he said. You paused.

"What?"

"You were just screaming for someone to stop. We thought you were being attacked and rushed over here. But you were sleeping."

"I'm sorry," you whispered, thinking about your dream and the oddity of it and looking to the side where Sayid normally sleeps. "Where's Sayid?" you asked, looking back at him.

"I think he's sitting by the fire," he said. You sat up. Hurley put a hand on your shoulder. "Jack told me to tell you to take it easy."

"I'm fine," you said, pushing his hand away and standing up. He didn't try and stop you.

"Okay, but make sure to tell Jack I tried to stop you." You didn't answer him, you just walked past him and out of your tent, looking towards the fire. Sayid was sitting there on a log, a stick in his hand and he was prodding at it, looking deep in thought. You sighed and walked over without him noticing. You sat on the edge of the log, wrapped an arm around his and rested your head against it. This brought him out of his trance and he looked down at you.

"Ana," he said, leaning his head down and kissing the top of yours. You looked up at him.

"I'm sorry," you said.

"For what?" You shrugged and looked towards the fire. He sighed in realization. "You can come with us if you'd like. You're right, you would be safer that way."

"What about everyone else? Like Claire and Aaron."

"Charlie knows how to handle a gun." You didn't say anything. "We won't be leaving for a few days anyway. Not until we find out where this man came from. We have time to figure out who to leave behind for protection." You nodded.

"I had a weird dream after Jack knocked me out." He looked back down at you.

"What was it?"

"I...was on the Island, it was just me, and it was silent. Then out of nowhere, the plane crashed behind me and I flew forward and smacked my head. When I looked up, I seen everyone jumping off the plane, and it was on fire. When you jumped off, you stared at me and then ran to me and told me I shouldn't be here and that I should go. You started pushing me and then I woke up." Sayid thought about this.

"It was just a dream."

"I know, it just creeped me out a little." He put an arm around you and held you close.

"Don't be afraid," he said, smiling down at you. "I'm here for you."

"Actually, you should be afraid," said a deep voice behind you and the two of you whipped around to see the man that had been caught earlier untied and standing behind you with a large stick in his hands. He raised the stick like a bat and you gasped, closing your eyes as he swung it forward. You screamed, expecting it to make contact with the side of your head, but instead you felt Sayid fall to the ground beside you. You gasped, opening your eyes and down at him in horror, and then back up at the man. "Because you shouldn't be here." He raised it again and you tried to scramble to your feet and run, but he caught you in the head before you could and you slumped to the ground beside Sayid, unconscious and spilling blood. "You all need to go."


	9. Not My Fault

**Excuse my use of the name "Lacy" in chapter 8. That's the name of a character in another story of mine and I got them mixed up.**

It would be an understatement to call the mind-numbing pain you were feeling when you woke up a headache. You had only been out for a couple hours, you could tell by the way it was still dark, and yet the pain was still mulling around inside your skull and making it hard to stay conscious. You tried to open your eyes but it hurt to. Sayid was gone, you could tell. Tears formed beneath your closed eyelids and you tried to move, but found you couldn't.

Your eyes shot open through the pain and you gasped loudly, burying your face in your arm and groaning. You tried to redirect the pain by rubbing your forehead against the bone but it remained. With a sigh, you lifted your head and looked around as the tears began to slide down your cheek. You choked on a sob when you tried to move your hands and realized that they were bound together, as were your ankles. The man who attacked you must not have wanted you to be able to follow quickly in case you woke up. Where was everyone? And how had they not heard any of this go down?

You pulled yourself into a sitting position with your elbows against the log, cutting them in the process, and drew your legs into your chest. You wrapped your arms around them and began to pull at the rope around your ankles as best you could, untying it. It took you several minutes of ripping at it with your nails, but you managed to fray and break through it by kicking your leg out. The rope flew forward a few feet to the spot that Sayid had been laying after the man hit him in the head with the branch. Your stomach churned unpleasantly as you noticed a blood stain still visible in the sand, and it took all your will power not to throw up.

Your heart pounding, you pushed yourself to your feet and turned towards camp, breathing deeply. You saw Jack's fire dimly lit outside his tent and you began to stumble towards it, tears pouring down your face. Your hands were still tied as you barged through the entrance and he jumped, waking up and turning towards you, shining a flash light in your face immediately. You dropped to your knees beside him and began to sob.

"Ana," he said, quickly sitting up.

"Jack," you blubbered, holding out your wrists and he got on his knees in front of you, dropping the flash light.

"What happened?!" he asked, grabbing the rope and tearing it away from your wrists with ease. You continued to cry and he moved in closer, grabbing your shoulders. "Ana, where's Sayid?" he asked. You tried to speak but nothing came out, only loud sobs as the sound of tent doors whipping open erupted outside.

"Dammit!" came Sawyer's angry voice within seconds from a few tents away and Jack jumped up.

"Stay here," he said and ran out to him. You could hear the words being exchanged between them, even through your crying.

"He's gone!" Sawyer shouted.

"Who's gone?" Jack asked.

"The damn Other!" There was silence for a few seconds before Sawyer continued, "did she untie him and let him go? Is that why she's in there crying?" He sounded angry.

"Her and Sayid were attacked actually," Jack said. More silence. "I'm assuming he took off with Sayid, we need to get a search group together now."

"In the middle of the night?!"

"It'll be light out in just a couple hours. We can't let him get too far!"

"And what am I supposed to be telling people as I wake 'em up, Doc?"

"The truth," Jack said and you heard him start back towards the tent. When he got inside, you were hugging your knees to your chest tightly and still crying, but quieter now. Jack crouched down next to you and put his hand back on your shoulder. "We're gonna find Sayid," he assured you. You didn't say anything, you just let out a shaky sigh and hicupped. You sniffled and wiped your nose on the back of your hand. He reached into his bag and got you a tissue. "Here," he said, handing it to you and you accepted it graciously.

"Thanks," you said congestedly, blowing your nose and then cleaning your hand. You clenched the tissue tight in your fist and sighed again.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked. You looked up at him, frowning and blinking back a few tears you could feel forming. "Take your time." You took a deep breath, looking away from him and launched into your story slowly.

"I...came out and saw him by the fire. So I walked over and sat beside him, and we talked. I was telling him about this dream I had, where he told me I shouldn't be here and needed to go. Sayid told me I shouldn't be afraid, and then the guy came up behind us and told me I should and that I shouldn't be here. That's when he knocked out Sayid with the branch." You sighed shakily, writhing the tissue around in your hands as you stared at it. "And then me."

"You dreamt that and then he said it?" Jack asked. You looked at him, swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah," you whispered. There was a brief moment of silence between the two of you.

"Don't worry," he said, "we're gonna find him." You looked at him.

"That guy knocked him out," you said. "The branch he had was huge. He might not even be alive." Jack suddenly began to observe your hair and reached up, brushing a clump aside. You gasped and moved away from him quickly, pain eminating from where he had touched.

"Don't!" you snapped.

"Don't think like that," he said, "you were knocked out too, with the same branch, and here you are talking to me." You didn't respond right away, the pain of the memory was eating away at your heart and you looked down at his blankets as a shiver shot through you.

"Yeah," you eventually said, your voice barely above a whisper. "You're right." Jack shined his flash light into your hair.

"Well, you don't seem to be bleeding to heavily. You should be all right. Do you want some medicine for the pain?" You looked at him, wondering how he knew your head hurt and he stared back at you, waiting for a response. You guessed with him being a doctor and the fact that you got in the head with a huge branch could be how. You nodded.

"Yes," you whispered and he moved back to his bag, grabbed his flash light and began to rummage for his bottle of pills. Once he found it, he popped it open and handed 2 to you as well as half empty bottle of water.

"Thank you," you said, downing the pills immediately and sending a gulp of water down after them. You handed the bottle back to him.

"You're welcome." Suddenly, Sawyer barged through the tent's door and you both jumped, looking over at him.

"I've got your team together, Doc," he said, looking at him and then over at you. "You coming or not?" he asked. You opened your mouth to respond but couldn't think of what to say. "Did a branch to the head make you hard of hearing?" he asked and Jack stood up.

"Hey, back off." Tears leaped into your eyes at his words, and you tried your best to swallow them back before he could see. He must have been standing outside the tent and listening, putting off rescuing Sayid. Your blood began to boil as Sawyer started talking again.

"We wouldn't be in this mess if wasn't for her and her screaming," he said, "woke up half the camp and we all went over just to find her sleeping! The Other must have gotten himself untied when we all weren't looking." The three of you didn't speak for several seconds. You stood up and walked over, staring up at him angrily and thinking about what he had just said. Anger surged through you and you raised your hand, slapping him hard across the face and leaving 3 long scratches down his cheek. He yelled out in pain and stumbled backwards, grabbing the side of his face as Jack grabbed your arms and pulled you back.

"This isn't my fault!" you shouted as Saywer looked down at his hand and saw the spots of blood left behind from the scratches.

"Bitch!" he yelled, moving towards you quickly and Jack shoved you behind him, creating a barrier between you and Sawyer.

"That's enough!" he shouted.

"Look what she did to my face!" he said, and his voice got a little higher than usual. You looked around Jack's arm and pushed him out of the way.

"You deserved it," you said. Jack tried to pull you back again but you ripped your arm from his grasp. "No! Leave me alone. I'm going to find Sayid and if you two want to help, fine. If not...fine." You stomped out of the tent and through the sand, passing by Hurley who was emerging from his tent and slinging a back pack over his shoulders. He called out to you when you continued walking.

"Hey dude," he said and you stopped, turning towards him. "Where are you going?"

"To find Sayid," you said, turning away and beginning to walk again. Hurley ran to catch up to you.

"Alone?" he asked.

"Yup." You saw him look back towards camp and then back towards you.

"There's a group gathered around Jack's tent, I think they're getting ready to go too. Maybe we should stick with them." You stopped walking again and looked back towards Jack's tent too. There was a small group already gathered around and they all had back packs. You could see Kate, Jack, Jin, Sun, John, Charlie and Sawyer. Sawyer. You really didn't want to be anywhere near the man but you also wanted to find Sayid. And your love for him outweighed your hatred towards anyone any day. You sighed.

"I guess," you mumbled.

"Phew," Hurley said, slinging his bag higher up on his shoulders. "I was beginning to think it was just gonna be me and you versus whatever's out there." There was slight humor in his tone. You looked up at him.

"You don't think I could handle it?" you asked.

"No, I'm sure you could. But I'd be no help with my screaming and running away and such." You smiled again and then looked back towards Jack's tent. Jack was talking to Kate, but he caught your eye as soon as you looked over and he moved her aside gently, saying something to her and then beginning to jog towards you. "I'll be over here," Hurley said as Jack stopped in front of you.

"Thanks for coming, Hurley," Jack said. He nodded and headed towards the group. Jack looked down at you. "Will you come with us?" he asked and you looked up at him. "I've already got a whole group together, and Sawyer has promised to be nice." You scoffed in annoyance, turning away. He put a hand on your arm. "Please." You sighed, looking back up at him.

"Yeah, I'll come." He smiled. He pulled a small gun from his back pocket and handed it to you.

"This is Sayid's. I think he would want you to defend yourself with it." You reached forward and took it from him, examining it and then looking up at him.

"Thank you." You stuffed it in your back pocket as he nodded.

"Come on," he said, leading you back towards the group. When the two of you made it there, he began to walk towards the jungle and you fell towards the back being one of the slower walkers. Once you were behind everyone, you felt a hand come to your back and force you to the center of the group. You looked up in surprise and were even more surprised to see Sawyer beside you. You stared at him until he looked down at you.

"You'd be more protected in the middle," he said. You didn't say anything, you just looked back ahead of you to see where you were stepping. "No need to thank me." You were silent for a few more seconds before you responded.

"Sorry about your face," you said eventually.

"Sorry about your boyfriend," he replied. You could tell he really wasn't, but it meant a lot to you that he was helping look for him. You were happy to accept any sort of help, even if it meant accepting a fake apology too.


	10. The Reading

"Do you know where you're going?" you blurted out after 3 hours of walking in what seemed like an endless circle. Jack had led the group far forward into the jungle without so much as stopping to take a sip of water or relieve himself. It touched you that he was so dedicated to finding Sayid, but you had to wonder if there was an alterior motive behind the dedication. Him and Sayid had gone out into the jungle by themselves the night you nearly drowned, and Sayid refused to tell you why. You hoped that this had nothing to do with that, and that he wasn't having to pay for something the both of them did.

"Are you all right?" Sun's husband Jin asked in his thick Korean accent, looking back at you. He looked sincerely concerned. You nodded.

"Yes, it's just hot," you replied, pulling your water from your bag and taking a sip. "I'm fine now." He smiled and turned to face forward again. You sighed, shoving the bottle back into the bag and began to kick at the dirt and pine needles as you walked. Doubt filled your heart as you continued on, you might not ever be able to find Sayid in all this jungle...but you hoped the love you had for him and he had for you was strong enough to lead you to him.

You had never been in love with someone so much before. You had never even been in love with anyone until now. It was an almost frightening feeling, but you welcomed it. Sayid made everything seem like it was okay even when it wasn't. The burden you had been carrying through the jungle seemed to lift off your shoulders slightly as you thought about this and you smiled a little. He would be okay. You would both be okay.

You began to think back to life before the Island, specifically back to when you were 18 and a newly high school graduate.

Walking home from the graduation ceremony, you were carrying your gown in one hand and your cap in the other. Your mom and dad had left immdiately after you walked across stage so they could get home in time for the season premiere of their favorite show. They were material people, never caring about the important things in life. Not that you were important to them...

You had chosen to get a psychic reading that day. As you were crossing Main St. in your hometown of Manhattan, you had noticed a tiny business tucked into the corner of a plaza and your curiousity led you inside. There was purple everywhere and the woman inside was draped from head to toe in the color as well. You smiled when you saw her, short and plump with nails as long as her fingers. She welcomed you immediately, her eyes bright with excitement. You could tell she hadn't had many customers in a while.

Not much that she said interested you. She told you that she didn't see you leaving Manhattan for a couple years, but there was no way you were staying there longer than you needed to. It was only until she got to your love life that you began to really listen.

"I see a man in your future," she said, her eyes squeezed shut as she held your hands tightly in hers. "He's much older than you."

"Who is he?" you asked.

"I'm not sure," she said. She paused for a moment. "But you're going to fall in love with this man." You laughed.

"I've never even had a boyfriend and I'm supposed to fall in love with a 'much older man'?" you asked and she opened her eyes to look at you.

"You are meant to be with him." You just stared at her as a chill ran through you. Could this possibly be why you were so turned off from every male in your entire school? Your parents were Christians, and they always told you not to worry and that God was saving you for the right person. You didn't believe them then, but maybe it was the truth...

You took a breath.

"Well...where do I meet him?" She gripped your hands again and shut her eyes, tilting her head up towards the ceiling slightly.

"I see a beach," she said and your heart fluttered slightly. "There's a fire...and lots of people."

"So...we're gonna meet at a party?" you asked. She furrowed her brow and shook her head.

"I can't say for sure," she said. "Are you planning on taking a trip soon? Perhaps overseas?" She was silent a moment and then she looked at you and said, "Australia?" Your heart stopped.

"I...was planning on studying abroad there in 2 years...how did you..." You paused. "Am I going to meet him there?"

"No," she said, "but I can't see past you going to Australia. There's too much negative energy in the way." Your insides squirmed.

"Negative energy?" She nodded, letting go of your hands.

"I can't tell if it's attached to your or him," she said, "but I feel it is leaning more towards him." You smiled.

"I don't know, I'm a pretty unlucky person. It could be attached to me."

"It would be stronger in your presence, dear." She sighed and closed her eyes again. She didn't say anything for a few minutes and then her eyes snapped back open and she shook her head.

"What?" you asked.

"I just can't believe I can't read any further for you. I'm so sorry." You smiled, reaching in your pocket for some money.

"Don't worry about it," you said, "you've let me know that I'm not gonna be alone for the rest of my life, so that's a plus for me." You slid three 20's across the table to her. "And worth every penny."

"Dear, the reading was only 20 dollars." You smiled again, standing up.

"I know." Tears rushed into her eyes and she stood up, grabbing hold of your hands graciously.

"You come back any time, dear," she said, grinning. "And please, after you meet this man and come back to Manhattan...please bring him by so I can meet him." You felt tears begin to line the bottom of your eyes too and you blinked them back.

"I promise I will." You leaned forward and hugged her before walking out of her back room. You grabbed your cap and gown and left.

A strong flood of emotions burst through you as you remembered this reading you had had 2 years before. You gasped and looked up at the back of everyone's head and realized you had fallen to the very back of the group. The beach, the fire, the people. That woman had seen you meeting after the plane crashed, that's why you didn't meet in Australia. Your heart pounding, you began to have flash backs of the day of the crash.

The raging fire.

The stretch of beach.

The frantic people.

Sayid.

You remembered watching him run through the sand that day, dragging people from the wreckage of the plane and dragging them over to Jack. He had looked over to you at one point and hurried over, examining your arm and head.

"You're bleeding," he said to you but his voice sounded distant in your memory. You barely even remembered this until now. "Come with me." He grabbed your arm but it was painful to move, so you pulled away. He turned to say something to you and that's when Claire started screaming about being in labor. He ran off without another word.

"Oh God," you blurted out, stopping in your tracks in the middle of the jungle. A few people turned back to look at you, including Jack up front.

"Keep going straight, guys," he said and maneuvered past them to you. You looked up as soon as he was standing in front of you. "How are you doing?" he asked. You swallowed, your voice having gotten dry from the flood of memories. You breathed in sharply as a shocking realization fell over you and tears welled up in your eyes as you said what you said next.

"I knew the plane was going to crash."


	11. The Other Island

The silence between you and Jack lingered for an awkward 30 seconds before he waved the group on and finally answered you.

"Care to explain?" he said and you felt the back of your neck begin to burn as it normally did when you were in stressful situations. You swallowed a few times, relieving the dryness in your throat, and took a deep breath before letting it out with a shaky sigh. Jack was staring down at you with judgemental eyes and it made your heart drop slightly as you launched into your story.

"I went to this psychic a couple years ago," you began quietly, dropping your gaze to his chest, "and she told me that I was going to meet and fall in love with Sayid after I got back from Australia. She told me that there was going to be a bunch of people and a fire on a beach. I thought she was describing some sort of party but..." you paused as tears welled up in your eyes. "But she was talking about the crash." You bowed your head and watched a tear fall and moisten a small clump of dirt. Jack took a step in towards you and put his hand on your arm. You looked up at him and blinked away the tears that were blurring your vision. He sighed.

"You didn't know the plane was going to crash," he said. You sniffled.

"Yes I did," you countered, wiping your nose on your sleeve. "She also said that she couldn't see past Australia because there was too much negativity attached to Sayid. I should have known that nothing good could have come with meeting him."

"That still doesn't prove you knew the plane was going to crash," he said. You sighed and he rubbed your arm. "And I don't think that the plane crash is the type of negativity she was sensing." You stared at him, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Did Sayid ever tell you what his job used to be?" he asked. You shook your head.

"No." You paused. "What was it?" Jack opened his mouth to respond and then he closed it after a pensive expression fell over his face.

"You should wait and let him tell you," he said and patted your arm before lowering his. You were too tired and confused to argue. "Come on, let's go find him." Jack started to walk back towards the group and you stepped forward.

"Jack," you said and he turned around.

"What?"

"Did you ever get that note tied to that bird's foot?" Jack smiled.

"Yes. Sun did." You smiled too.

"Good." You walked forward until you were beside him and he turned around so the two of you could continue the walk back to the group together. It took about five minutes to catch up with them, and a question was eating away at your heart the entire time you walked. You wanted to know what him and Sayid had gone into the jungle to do that day, and whether or not it had anything to do with what was happening. You were about to ask him when the group was visible a few yards ahead, but you decided to wait. Knowing what they had done wouldn't help anything. You would ask him when you all were back at camp.

"Hey Doc," Sawyer said, making his way to the back of the group. "The group is getting restless. We gonna stop any time soon?" Jack thought for a moment.

"Yeah, we can stop." He took a few swift steps forward and dropped his bag to the ground. "Hey group, we're gonna take a quick break. Ten minutes. Drink water, eat something, clean up, whatever you need to do." He crouched down and fumbled through his bag, taking out a bottle of water. He took a sip and looked up at you. "Is everything okay, Ana?" he asked, twisting the cap back on and putting the bottle in his bag. You nodded quickly, suddenly aware that you had been staring.

"Yeah," you said, "sorry." You walked off, embarrassed. You had been staring at him because you were glad he was finally drinking some water after 3+ hours of trekking through the jungle but your lips were dry and you were finding it hard to smile. You moved towards the edge of the trees and looked towards the water. There was a large cliff obscuring your view and you took a step towards it. You had been looking at trees and dirt for so long, you wanted to see the water. You grabbed hold of a rock and began to climb.

"Hey dude, are you all right?" you heard Hurley say behind you when you had gotten halfway up the large rock. You looked down quickly and then continued on.

"Yeah," you called back.

"You're not planning on jumping are you?" he asked. You laughed slightly.

"No," you said, pulling yourself over a protruding boulder and standing on top of it, looking back down. "I just want to see what's on the other side."

"Oh okay, good," he said, "I was worried you were getting suicidal and I was gonna have to, you know, come up after you." You laughed again, continuing your ascent.

"Don't worry, Hurley," you said, "I'm not gonna kill myself." You pulled yourself up another 1/4 of the way. "You can go eat something if you want."

"No," he said, "I don't need it. Besides, I think Sayid would want me to stay here in case you fall." You stopped climbing for a second, tears forming in your eyes. You shut them and breathed in deeply, bowing your head and pressing your forehead against the rock. You exhaled quietly and glanced back down at Hurley.

"Thanks," you said, climbing the rest of the way and pulling yourself over the top. It was grassy and you were surprised, you had been expecting more boulder. You stood up and looked down at Hurley and then out towards the water. You smiled and shut your eyes, breathing in the salty air. You didn't think you would ever miss it, considering you had been on the island for over a month and all you did was breathe in salty air, but you had always hated the woods. It always made you feel clausterophic and like you were back in the city. Five minutes of winding through trees and tripping over roots could get you daydreaming about waves and them carrying you away from everything.

When you opened your eyes again, everything changed.

The calmness that had been flowing through you just a moment before was now replaced with an ice cold sludge that was forcing its way painfully through your veins. Your heart, which had previously been issuing one beat per second as usual, had seemed to stop momentarily but was now issuing several more powerful beats per second than before. Your breathing was rapid, your legs felt like they could collapse beneath you any second and the comforting taste of the salty air now made you feel nauseous. It took everything in you to stay on your feet as you stared across the water at another stretch of land, similiar to the one you were standing on, but one thing was different: there were people.

"Jack," you said immediately, wondering to yourself how you or anyone else had never noticed another Island less than a mile away. Hurley answered you.

"What's up there, dude?" he asked. You didn't answer him as you continued to stare across the water towards the people. You scanned the crowd, trying to see if you could spot Sayid amongst them but you couldn't. You turned your body slightly towards the woods but didn't take your eyes off the other Island.

"Jack," you said again, louder this time. Again, only Hurley answered.

"What is it?" He asked as you looked around at the houses, the patches of green grass that made up lawns and the people mulling around with dogs and the occasional cat at their feet. What bothered you most about what you saw was how many children were down there. You had no doubt that Sayid was down there too, that something terrible was happening to him, and there were so many children in the same proximity of whatever that was. Tears gathered at the bottoms of your eyes suddenly and you whipped around, looking with wide eyes through the trees and blinking back the tears rapidly. When you saw Jack you took a few steps forward and screamed his name as loud as you could.

"JACK!" Immediately, his head snapped towards you. He had been talking to Jin when you called for him and the two of them began to run over right away. The look on your face must have said enough.

"What's going on?!" Hurley and Jack said at the same time when he made it to the bottom of the cliff.

"There's another Island over there!" you gasped as you felt a fit of hyperventilation falling over you. This only ever happened to you when you were stressed out to your max and this was one of those times.

"Another Island?" Jin said as Jack threw himself forward against the rocks and began to climb immediately. He was beside you within minutes, breathing heavily, and he swiftly walked towards the edge of the cliff and stared in awe. You walked forward too.

"Sayid could be over there," you said, trying to keep your breathing as stable as possible. "We need to get over there."

"How did we never notice that was there?" he wondered out loud.

"I don't know but Jack!" you said, your voice's pitch increasing slightly, "Sayid could be over there! We need to go!" Jack looked at you and then back towards the Island quickly before moving to the other edge and looking down at Jin.

"Jin, go get the rest of the group and bring them over here. Hurley, I need you to go down that trail over there and tell me if there's some sort of boat or raft by the water. I'll bet that Island is where the Other came from. He had to get over here somehow." Jin and Hurley ran off to do what Jack asked and he turned to you. "Are you okay?" he asked. You nodded as a tear rolled down your cheek. You quickly wiped it away.

"Yes."

"Come on, follow me." He began to climb back down the cliff, careful to find sturdy protruding rocks so that neither of you would fall. When he got to the bottom, you heard his shoes hit the dirt and felt his hands wrap around your waist as he pulled you from the rock wall and lowered you to the ground gently. It surprised you but your gasp was barely audible over him saying, "I don't know if Jin has filled any of you in, but we've just discovered that there's another Island here across the water. There's people on it...and buildings. There's most likely answers and hopefully Sayid." Your heart skipped a beat as you felt a few pair of eyes rest on you and it made the back of your neck burn red again. "We need to get over there quickly."

"Where's Hurley?" Sun asked.

"He went to see if there was a boat or raft by the shore." He grabbed his bag from the ground where he had dropped it before climbing and threw it over his shoulders. He looked back at everyone. "Come on," he said and began to walk down the trail that Hurley had gone down earlier. "Hurley!" Jack shouted when you all got close to the edge and could hear the waves washing up onto the sand.

"Yeah dude, I'm over here!" he called back.

"Were there any boats over there?" he asked, pushing aside a large branch and continuing on.

"Um, yeah!" he said. "There's a couple."

"Great, try to start pushing one towards the water. We're almost there."

"Well..." Hurley said and your heart grew heavy. The only time a person ever said "well" like that was when something had gone wrong. "I kind of can't right now." You looked over at Jack as he furrowed his brow, confused.

"Why not?" he asked, shoving aside a giant leaf and stopping in his tracks. You walked into his arm and looked over it to see what was going on. You were right, something had gone wrong. There were four men, each one holding a gun either towards Hurley or the group, and one of them was the man who had been tied up in the tent beside Jack's until he'd gotten loose. He grinned nastily at Jack.

"Hello Jack," he said and gestured towards the boats. "Looking for these?"


	12. Lies

You had never had a gun pointed at you before. Even growing up in New York, the most violence you'd ever witnessed was inside your own home. Your father was a former Marine who brought home a serious case of PTSD and didn't think his service ended with his discharge papers. He was abusive to your mother but had gotten it under control by the time you left for Australia.

"Let Hurley go, Ethan," Jack said, "he has nothing to do with this."

"Actually," he said, pointing the gun straighter into the group, "everyone here has something to do with this." You looked up at Jack and noticed he was shaking slightly and sweating.

"You entered our territory first," he said, "you took one of my people." Chills rushed over you at his words and you shivered. A hand came to your shoulder and you were surprised to hear Sawyer begin speaking behind you.

"How about y'all just skip the blame game and call it even. Tell us where Sayid is and we'll continue on our way." Ethan looked at him.

"I don't think so, James," he said, lowering his eyes slightly but keeping his gun raised towards you all. "Drop your weapons. All of you." Your heart leapt into your throat as he said this and you suddenly felt how heavy Sayid's gun was in the back of your pocket. You couldn't stand the thought of having to hand it over.

"Not until you let Hurley go," Jack countered. Ethan stared at him with a hard expression.

"I'll let him go when you drop your weapons." You looked up at Jack and saw that he was begrudgingly pulling his gun from his belt. When he had it out, he looked down at you and immediately understood the reason behind the slight build up of tears in your eyes. He nodded reassuringly.

"We'll get it back," he said, tossing his gun to the ground. He turned back towards the rest of the group. "Everyone throw your guns down." Your heart was heavy as you reached towards your back pocket and wrapped your hand around the cool metal of Sayid's gun and slid it out of your pocket slowly. You looked down at it and blinked back the tears as you tossed it reluctantly down beside Jack's. You swallowed the lump in your throat as you heard everyone else's guns start to hit the ground as well.

"Let him go," Ethan said to the men behind him and Hurley was shoved forward. He stumbled into the group and Jack directed him behind him. He stood next to you, breathing deeply and sweating bullets. You shivered again.

"I think it's only fair if y'all drop your weapons too," Sawyer snapped. Ethan glanced up at him from stowing away the weapons in his bag.

"It would be fair," he said. "But unfortunately-" Before he finished his sentence, he straightened up, swung the bag over his shoulder, pointed his gun into the group and shot. You screamed and jumped backwards into Sawyer who immediately shoved you behind him and into Kate. She grabbed onto your arm gently as the two of you looked over in horror to see Charlie lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. His eyes were closed and he was sprawled in the leaves, his body still. He wasn't breathing and you felt like you were going to be sick.

"Charlie!" Jack shouted, rushing towards him as Sun and Jin dropped to their knees beside him. Ethan moved forward quickly and pressed his foot against Jack's shoulder as he got down on his knees too, shaking Charlie and checking his pulse. He kicked him backwards into the sand.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Sawyer shouted.

"NOW EVERYONE LISTEN UP," Ethan said loudly and you jumped at the power in his voice. Your head snapped over to look at him as Kate held on tighter to your arm. Sun and Jin stood up, holding on tightly to each other. "No one else needs to die today as long as you listen to me. Is everyone listening?"

"What do you want, Ethan?" Jack asked and your heart sank slightly at the defeat in his voice.

"I want no one else to speak unless you're spoken to. Put your hands behind your back and when they're tied, get on a boat. Men in one, women in the other." One of the Others who was standing behind Ethan moved over towards you and Kate while Ethan tied Jack's hands roughly and shoved him over to a boat. Once your hands were tied, you were shoved over to a second boat and you tripped inside, smacking your cheek bone off the wooden seat.

"Are you all right?" Sun asked as Kate was thrown in the boat beside you. You got to your knees and looked up at her, feeling blood begin to drip down the side of your face. You nodded, bringing your shoulder up to your face and wiping the blood off on your shirt.

"Yeah."

"Sit down and shut up," Ethan barked, "Alec, fix that." The Other who tied up your wrists got in your boat, grabbed a small bandage from a makeshift first aid kit and slapped it on your cheek. You breathed in sharply at the sting when his fingers touched the cut and he pushed you back so you were sitting.

"All of you sit down," he said. Kate and Sun got down beside you and Alec rowed you over to the other Island. It was smaller than the main Island, you could tell just by looking at it. Walking from one end to the other wouldn't take 4 days like it did where your plane landed, maybe 1, two at most.

"Blindfold them," Ethan said, tossing black cloths to the Others once you were on shore at the other Island. You closed your eyes as Alec placed it over yours and tied it tightly in the back. You were helped from the boat and then guided roughly through what you assumed was a forest by the amount of sticks and roots you were struggling not to trip over. After a while, the terrain beneath you changed and it suddenly felt hard, like stone. An unfamiliar voice began to speak a few feet from you.

"Is this everyone from their camp?" the man said.

"No," you heard Ethan say, "This is who we found crossing over into our territory."

"Good work. Remove their blindfolds and leave me alone with them now." Your heart was pounding angrily in your chest as one of the Others got behind you and removed your blindfold. The light in the room was overwhelmingly bright and it caused your eyes to feel suddenly dry and like pins were being shoved into them. You closed them and turned away, blinking rapidly and then turning towards the short, thin man standing in the middle of the room with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. He had glasses on and looked a little too friendly to be holding you all hostage like this.

"Ben," Jack said angrily once his blindfold was removed and the Others had left the room. The man looked at him and smiled wider.

"Interesting how the situation has suddenly changed?" he said, "you held me captive a week ago and now here you are being held captive by me."

"What do you want?" he asked, "where's Sayid?" Your throat constricted from hearing his name and butterflies hatched in your stomach.

"He's all right, if that's what you want to know."

"Let us see him." You held your breath as Ben stared at Jack with a look of consideration on his face, but your heart dropped when it went away and he shook his head instead.

"In due time," he said. "But for now...I want to know a few things that he refused to tell me." You about fell over hearing this. Sayid had been interrogated, maybe even tortured, over something that him and Jack had done...you had known all along this was most likely the case but you had wished with everything inside of you that it wasn't...your knees buckled beneath you slightly but Jack had started talking just in time for Ben not to notice.

"What do you want to know?" he asked angrily.

"I want to know what you were really doing when we found you in our territory," Ben said, pushing his glasses straighter on his face and shifting slightly, "since we know you weren't really looking for the radio tower."

"What?" Jack asked and you looked over to him. He looked confused when he said, "we were looking for the radio tower."

"You were nowhere near it, Jack."

"We just crashed here 3 weeks ago, we don't know the exact layout of the Island!" Ben seemed unconvinced.

"I guess I need to get each of you alone, see if anyone else can tell me what you were doing there."

"It's going to be a waste of your time." Ben grinned.

"Not my time," he said, moving towards the door. He opened it and turned back to look at all of you. "This man's line of work is more effective in getting answers than mine." Ben left the room and when the door shut behind him, you quickly turned towards Jack.

"Jack, what were you doing out there?" you said, your voice slightly strained from the screaming you'd been doing inside since you had been caught by the Others.

"I wasn't-"

"Don't lie to me!" you said loudly, "the look on your face the whole time we were walking said enough." Everyone was staring at you as you said this but the only person's expression you were reading was Jack's and you could tell that he knew you were right.

"I swear, we-"

"Charlie's DEAD because of what you did! Just tell someone!" He opened his mouth to say something just as the large stone door slammed behind you. You jumped and whipped around as a man spoke behind you.

"Who first?" said Sayid.


	13. Interrogation

"Hmm?" Sayid said, walking the length of the group and making sure to look at each one of you for a few seconds. Your heart was coated in dread when your eyes met because where his had once been filled with undying love, they were now empty and unforgiving.

"Sayid," Hurley said and you turned to look at him, surprised that he had the courage to speak out. Sayid looked back at him as well.

"What is it, Hurley?"

"What happened to you, man?" he asked and Sayid walked to him. "What did they do to you?" You and everyone else were staring intently at him, hoping he was about to say what had happened, but he didn't. He just grinned menacingly.

"Nothing worse than what's going to happen to you." Your heart sunk so slow inside you, it felt like it was at the same level as your stomach. You had to viciously fight back tears as Sayid began pacing again before making his way behind everyone. He wandered back and forth between one end of the line starting with you and the other end that ended with John Locke. "Is anyone going to tell me what I want to know?" he said, "or do I need to take stricter measures?"

"We can't tell you what we don't know ourselves," John said, and it was the first time you'd heard him speak since you left camp. Sayid looked in his direction.

"I'm sure you know," he said, "you just need your memory refreshed." Sayid began walking again and when he made his way back from that end of the line, he stopped next to you and said quietly in your ear, "shall we start with you then?"

The feeling that erupted inside you was hard to explain. It was a mixture of anger, grief, nervousness and excitement. The excitement was linked to the fact that he had chosen to take you off into another room first...perhaps nothing was wrong with him and he was just putting on a show. Maybe he wanted to tell you that so you could pass on the message somehow and not be afraid. The other feelings made you want to be sick.

You looked towards Jack and saw he was staring back at you with a worried expression on his face. You blinked rapidly and turned away as Sayid's hand came to your arm and jerked you away from the rest of the group quickly. He barked at you to follow him and you did into another small stone room with a large door. He slammed it shut once you were both inside and you turned to him, slightly eager to hear him say what you wanted to hear but instead all you got was his rough hands on your shoulders shoving you backwards into a chair.

"Sayid!" you blurted out as he walked behind you and crouched down.

"I don't want to hear you unless you're telling me what I want to know," he said. He untied your wrists and then retied them behind the chair. The normal electricity that his touch sent up your arm was vacant as he tied the rope tighter than before. You blinked back a few tears as he walked in front of your chair and looked down at you. "Are you going to tell me?" he asked. You looked up at him and swallowed.

"I don't know what you were doing in the jungle that day," you said. It felt silly being interrogated by the man who held the answer Ben wanted. You probably would have laughed at the situation if any other person was standing in front of you right now but it had to be Sayid. He stared at you for a moment, confused.

"What?"

"You and Jack," you said, "I don't know what you were doing in the jungle. You didn't tell me." Sayid continued to look confused as he stared at you but with a few quick steps towards you, he was suddenly enraged. He drew his arm back and slapped you hard across the face. You screamed and fell sideways, but your wrists being tied behind the chair saved you from falling out. Tears rushed into your eyes as you looked up at him and he was staring down at you angrily.

"If you're playing games, I suggest you stop," he said. You spat out a tiny bit of blood by his feet.

"I'm not," you said and your voice shook slightly. Sayid had never laid anything but a gentle hand on you before and you were caught off guard.

"Simply tell me what I want to know or this continues." His foreign accent was slightly thicker than the last time you had heard him talking. He raised his hand again and slapped you, but harder this time. You screamed again at the sharp sting it sent radiating through your skull and you suddenly felt like you were going to be sick.

"Sayid, I really don't know what you were doing!" He hit you again but this time it was with a closed fist. You felt a bone crack inside your jaw and it sent more tears rushing into your eyes as you began to hyperventilate in pain. Sayid walked away from you and over to a table where he had several different silver tools laying out on a ragged red towel. It made you feel more sick to think about why the towel was red.

"Ana," he said, reaching into his pile of tools and pulling out a small, slender knife and examining it before looking over at you. "I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not that man." He walked to you as you furrowed your brow in a mix of confused aggravation.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know you," he said, "and I don't know any of those people out there with you." He crouched behind your chair again and gently grabbed one of your hands. He began to uncurl your fingers from the closed fist you had them in and he slid the edge of the knife over your skin, sending chills across the entire surface of it. "But I do know that the palm of the hand is one of the most painful places on the human body to be sliced open." He pressed the blade to it. "And the hardest to heal."

It happened before you could say anything, Sayid pressed down deep and tore through your skin as if it were paper. You screamed and tried to pull away but he was holding onto your wrist tightly. He pressed the knife warm with your blood against the palm of your other hand and you gasped.

"No!" you said and he hesitated.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Don't cut it." You could feel the blood from your other hand seeping down your fingers and it sent chills up your spine. Tears leaked from your eyes as you did your best to look back at him. "I don't know what Jack was doing out there. I would tell you if I did." Sayid didn't say anything for a moment and then suddenly the same pain shot through your other hand as he sliced it open and you screamed again. Every vein from your fingers to the very tops of your arms were throbbing angrily as they struggled to keep the blood in your body and not pouring from your hands. But you knew it was no use the way you could hear it dripping onto the floor.

"Those wounds are deep," he said, "you should say something now. Before you pass out from lack of blood." You shook your head weakly.

"I don't know." He stepped out from behind you and stood staring down at you menacingly. You swallowed. "What the hell happened to you?" you asked daringly. He looked at you questioningly and you took that as your cue to continue. "What did they do to you after they you from camp?"

"I do not know what you're referring to," he said.

"I'm talking about Ben and the Others," you said, "they took you from camp and brought you here. They must have done something to affect your memory because I was next to you when they took you...but I was knocked out. He knocked us both out."

"Who?" he said.

"Ethan." Sayid continued to look confused as you said this.

"Ethan wouldn't do that," he said. He paused a moment before he continued."What is my relationship to you?" he asked.

"Um...we were...in love." The air in the room suddenly changed as did Sayid's expression. The hard look he had been masking from the moment you'd seen him had gone away and was replaced with one that almost resembled sadness. He took a couple steps towards you and dropped the knife on his table with the other tools. You could barely see it now as it disappeared into the red rag. This made you feel sick again but you didn't have time to think of that as Sayid stopped a few feet in front of you. He sighed.

"I know," he said quietly and your breath seemed to leave you. You stared up at him, dumbfounded as he reached a hand out and put it to your face gently. It was shaking as he bent down to your level and moved a piece of hair from your eyes and took his hand away.

"What?" you said.

"I'm sorry Ana," he said, "I had to do this. I have to go back out there with an answer for them or they will never let you go."

"What about you?"

"I will have to stay here. But I'm more worried about getting you out."

"Well jeez Sayid, torturing me wasn't the way to do it!" you shouted, "you can fix anything you lay your hands on, anything broken, and what do you choose to do?! Break me instead!" Tears were rolling down your cheeks as you said this. "Try to, anyway."

"I know, I know," he said quietly, crouching down. "Please Ana, just tell me what Jack and I were doing so I can bring it to Ben." You shook your head.

"I already told you, Sayid. You never told me what you were doing." The compassion in Sayid's eyes began to change back to anger as you said this. He stood up slowly and glared down at you. You opened your mouth to ask him what was wrong when he raised his hand and hit you 3 times across the face and sent blood spilling from behind your teeth. Your lip was busted open and was sending seering pain through your jaw. You looked up at him in disbelief. "What-"

"I don't know you," he said, "and clearly you won't tell me what I need to know. So I'm done with you." He reached down and ripped the rope from your hands, pulled you up and shoved you against the wall. He retied the rope and pushed you over to the large door, opened it and shoved you out into the room where everyone was. You hadn't seen what you looked like yet, but the looks on everyone's faces said it all. It must have been pretty bad. It felt pretty bad.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" Sawyer shouted from across the room. Sayid looked over and then marched to where he was. He grabbed his arm and ripped him from the line, tossing him towards the door and inside the room. When the door was slammed shut, you turned to Jack and the look of horror he had on his face. You swallowed the blood in your mouth and licked the fresh tears off your lips before you spoke.

"What...what was his job before we crashed?" you asked. Jack's expression turned sad and you knew whatever Sayid had done in the past couldn't have been good. You swallowed another mouthful of blood as Jack opened his mouth to reply, but before he could Sawyer could be heard in the other room, yelling in pain.


End file.
